March 28: Discussion on Diversity, Race Relations

Free public discussion to take place in Centennial Student Union Ballroom.

Mankato, Minn. – The Kessel Institute for the Study of Peace and Change and the Mankato Area Diversity Council are holding a free public discussion on the topic of diversity and race relations in Mankato on Thursday, March 28 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Centennial Student Union Ballroom at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

Kuma Takamura from the Mankato Area Diversity Council will give a presentation that will be followed by an open floor for questions, comments and discussion.

The goal of Thursday’s discussion, according to Jackie Vieceli, director of Minnesota State Mankato’s Kessel Institute for the Study of Peace and Change, is to look at the collective progress of the university and community’s stated goals of promoting diversity and racial equality. For more information, please contact Vieceli by phone at 507-389-6938 or by email at jacqueline.vieceli@mnsu.edu.

The Kessel Institute for the Study of Peace and Change is dedicated to advancing the understanding and the existence of peace at all levels, from the individual to the global community. The Institute defines peace in its broadest sense, denoting not only the absence of conflict but also the interrelationship of the factors necessary to create or to enhance harmony within and among human beings and their environments.

The Kessel Institute is named after Abbas Kessel, a Minnesota State Mankato political science professor for 19 years and lifelong peace activist. The Institute affirms Kessel’s insistence that for peace to be possible the values, behaviors and conditions essential for positive human relations must exist at multiple levels: personal, local, regional, national and international.

Minnesota State Mankato, a comprehensive university with 15,413 students, is part of the Minnesota State Colleges & Universities system, which comprises 31 state institutions.